Helsinki Seagulls is suffering from a loss of audience, even though it is playing for the championship

Seagulls–Honka 98–82

The entire Stadi basketball team.

The slogan that the Helsinki-based basketball club Seagulls is known for.

The catchy slogan is not true this season either. Despite the continued success, the Helsinki audience has found Seagulls to be mediocre at best for their home matches.

In the just-ended Korisliiga regular season, the average audience for the Seagulls’ home matches was only slightly over 900. It is no exaggeration to talk about a loss of audience for the long-lasting success of the Korisliiga.

A thousand spectators has become a phantom limit in Töölö, which was broken only twice during the regular season. As many times Kisses the number of viewers remained below 900.

Friday night The Seagulls played their first match of the Korisliiga extension series against local opponent Tapiola Honka. The number of people recorded was 879.

Janne Tirronen has been going to Seagulls matches for over ten years. He says that he is a season ticket holder for a long time.

The loyal supporter has put on a Seagulls hoodie for Friday’s match. You can no longer find a season ticket in its pocket.

“Yes, a fan shirt could have been found, but it has often been left hanging at home this season. The team has changed so much that the feeling has decreased. The lineup is too unfamiliar to the public.”

It’s not about lack of success. During the last three seasons, “Lokit” has been crowned Korisliiga champion twice. Once, in the 2023–2024 season, the championship slipped to BC Nokia with the smallest possible difference: the Helsinki team lost by one point in the seventh final match.

Thence despite this, the Helsinki sports consumer often goes to HIFK or HJK matches instead of Kisahalli, even though the success of these clubs in their own leagues has been thinner than the Seagulls in recent years.

CEO of the Seagulls Mila Valjus admits that ways to increase audience numbers must be found. He emphasizes the importance of the conditions, as the Seagulls do not have their own junior production to form the basis of the club community.

“A modern hall, where we can organize entertaining match events, plays a central role. It is decisive both in terms of the framework, the expansion of the audience base, and the profitability of the business,” he sums up.

After a 22-game regular season, the Seagulls start the playoffs in fourth place, even though the club started the season from behind: due to the change of ownership and the establishment of a new background company, the construction of the team only started late in the summer.

Valjus is therefore happy with his own moves on the floor.

“Of course, you have to be satisfied. With the change brought by the summer and the reduced player budget, our goal was to get to the playoffs. We actually achieved that goal better than we could have expected.”

Friday night the match was game-wise the display of the home team. The first half ended with the people from Helsinki leading by 21 points, and Honka, who struggled especially with his long throws, could not find ways to close the gap.

However, the atmosphere in the race hall remained flat, at times even apathetic. There was no information about the excitement, despite the efforts of the match announcer and the two-person drum group of Helsinki fans.

The empty bucket seats in the diagonally rising grandstand were unfortunately very talkative.